Technical Setup Guides
Product and Inventory Syncing
Before you start syncing inventory
After you’ve connected Square and Shopify to SKU IQ, you’re ready to sync your products. Inventory quantities will not sync until you’ve linked your products between the two platforms within the SKU IQ dashboard. When products are linked, only the inventory quantities are synced by default. Inventory quantities are the only data that is synced by default so that merchants can have different product information displayed in-store compared to online. Many merchants prefer to have different product titles or pricing in their retail store compared to their online store, for example.
If you want to sync additional data besides inventory quantities, such as product prices or images, contact the SKU IQ support team for help before you start linking products. We can configure your account settings to sync specific additional fields. Additional fees may apply.
Note: Before you start editing your live POS and eCommerce inventory, we recommend creating a test product in your POS and/or eCommerce platforms to test the SKU IQ functionality.
While inventory quantity updates are synced in either direction, both from Square and from Shopify, other product data syncs in one direction only. You can choose to have additional fields sync from Square to Shopify or from Shopify to Square, but not in both directions.
After signing up with SKU IQ, merchants often choose to edit products using one preferred platform only, and can then have their SKU IQ account configured to automatically sync certain product edits from that same preferred platform. For example, if you edit a product title in Square, the SKU IQ support team can configure your account to sync that updated product title from Square to Shopify.
The following fields can be synced from Square to Shopify, or from Shopify to Square, depending on your preference:
- Product title
- Product description
- Price
- Size
- SKU
- UPC or Barcode
- Images (original images only – new or updated images cannot be synced after a product has been linked)
Contact the SKU IQ support team for help if you’d like to sync any of the above additional fields between Square and Shopify. Additional fees may apply depending on your subscription level.
Link reports are generated when there are matching products in both of your platforms and the inventory quantities need to be synced. Linking products enables SKU IQ to associate the same product that exists in both systems together, in order to then (after being linked) sync quantities in real time.
If you already have existing inventory in-store and online, we can link or merge them if they have specific matching attributes. SKU IQ can match products between your POS and eCommerce if they have either a common SKU, UPC/barcode, or product title.
- If the product titles are the only thing that matches between platforms, the products must also have a matching brand and price in order for SKU IQ to detect the products as a valid match.
- Products must also have the same structure between the two platforms in order to be matched by SKU, UPC, or product title, i.e. the item must be either a parent product with variants in both platforms, or items must be structured as individual products with no variants in both platforms.
- Refer to the following section Trouble linking products for tips on getting your products to link if they do not have the same product structure or they don’t have matching SKUs, UPCs, or product titles.
If SKU IQ finds matching product attributes between your POS and eCommerce platforms, a link report will be automatically generated after you’ve successfully connected your POS and eCommerce platform with SKU IQ. The Link Report is where you’ll merge your items so they can be in sync.
Unlinked products will not have any quantities or attributes synced.
- In the SKU IQ dashboard, click on Link Report.
Note: If no matches are found, it could mean you have no products entered yet in one platform, or we were unable to find common attributes between your POS and eCommerce products. Refer to the following section Trouble linking products for tips on getting your products to link.
2.Select the checkboxes for the products you want to match. You can use the checkbox at the top of the column to Select All. You can select up to 100 products at a time to link.
Note: We recommend that you do a test product merge prior to linking all your products to ensure you are comfortable with the syncing capabilities. Once items are merged, it will adjust your inventory quantities to match the Primary System inventory that you have selected. You can test our system by linking one or two products initially before linking a whole page of products.
3.Select the radio buttons for the platform that has the correct quantity, either POS or eCommerce, so that we can reconcile any differences. You can use the radio button at the top of the column to Select All.
4.Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Link Items.
5.Confirm that you want to merge the selected items by clicking Link Items.
6.Your POS and eCommerce products will be linked, and inventory quantities synced according to the Primary System you selected for each item. Each product can take up to 2 minutes to link, and a whole page of 100 products typically takes approximately 30 minutes to finish linking.
7.After your first page of products is finished linking, you can repeat the process for the remaining products that need to be linked, going page by page to link your items.
Note: Contact the SKU IQ support team if you’d like us to do a Bulk Linking of several pages of products at once. Bulk Linking saves merchants time when merging products since they don’t have to wait for one page of products to finish linking before they can start linking the next page of products.
8.After your products are linked, you can view them by going to Products, and then filtering on In-Store & Online. A sync symbol displays when the items are linked.
To link products between your POS and eCommerce platforms, you must meet all of the following criteria:
1.You must have products listed in both platforms. If you have a new POS or eCommerce system with no products entered yet, you don’t need to link products. You can simply push products from one platform to the other to migrate your product catalog and sync your inventory. See the following section Push your products for information on migrating products from one platform to another.
2.Your POS and eCommerce products must have either a common SKU, UPC/barcode, or product title.
Note: If the product titles are the only thing that matches between platforms, the products must also have a matching brand and price in order for SKU IQ to detect the products as a valid match.
3.Products must have the same structure between the two platforms in order to be matched by SKU, UPC, or product title, i.e. the item must be either a parent product with variants in both platforms, or items must be structured as individual products with no variants in both platforms.
In the image below, the POS shows a product group/matrix with 3 variants nested underneath it. However, the eCommerce platform shows the same product as three separate items, each with only one variant. Although they may be considered the same product, SKU IQ requires that both products have the same structure in order to be linked.
4.You must not have duplicate products listed in your POS or eCommerce platform.
5.Products must not have any duplicate variants.
6.The products you want to link in both platforms must be published, not archived or in draft mode.
If you have products that are not linkable, you can either 1) edit the products within your POS and eCommerce so they have matching attributes and matching structures, or 2) you can delete the item(s) from one platform and push it from the other. See the following section Push your products for information on migrating products from one platform to another.
If you choose to edit your items to match, you may need to delete any products that are listed twice in your POS or eCommerce platform, add a SKU or UPC to the product, or make sure the product structure is the same between platforms.
If you need to change the structure of your product in one platform in order to get your products to sync, it’s always best to archive or delete the product group/matrix and then create brand new products. For example, if you need to change a product group in Square so it’s no longer in a matrix, archive or delete the product group and then create new separate products to reflect each variant that was in the group. If you edit a current product structure without archiving it and starting over from scratch, SKU IQ is not likely to be able to reimport that edited product correctly, which can lead to problems like duplicate variants. It is best practice to create a brand new product rather than edit an existing product so you can avoid having issues with getting your products to link properly.
Contact the SKU IQ support team if you need help understanding how to edit your products or if you have made edits to your POS or eCommerce inventory. If you’ve made multiple product edits, the support team can re-import your product catalog so SKU IQ will reflect the latest changes.
Pushing products is a way to copy an item from one platform to another so they can be sold both in retail and online. Products can be pushed from your POS to eCommerce or vice versa.
Note: If your POS and eCommerce have a lot of the same products, please link your products before proceeding to push products. If you push products before doing an inventory merge, you might create duplicate products.
When you first connect your POS and eCommerce platforms to SKU IQ, your In-Store and Online items will populate in the Products list. If there are products in your POS that do not exist in your eCommerce platform, you can push products from Square to Shopify so they will be available for sale online.
- Click Products, and then click on the Filter By pull down menu to select In-Store Only. A list of items that only exist in Square displays
2.Select the checkboxes for the products you want to push. You can use the checkbox at the top of the column to Select All. You can select up to 50 products at a time to push. In the Actions pull down menu, click Push to Ecommerce.
Note: We recommend that you do a test product push prior to migrating all your products to ensure you are comfortable with the syncing capabilities and data that is migrated. Once items are pushed, those products will be available on your eCommerce platform and SKU IQ will sync your inventory quantities. You can test our system by pushing one or two products initially before pushing a whole page of products.
3.Click the Cool, do it! button to confirm.
4.Each product can take up to 5 minutes to link, and a whole page of 50 products typically takes approximately 30 minutes to finish linking. New products you’ve pushed to Shopify may take up to 1 hour to display in the Shopify dashboard.
Note: During your free trial, you are limited to pushing a maximum of 50 products from one platform to the other. After you’ve signed up for a subscription, there is no limit.
5.After your first page of products is finished migrating, you can repeat the process for the remaining products that need to be pushed, going page by page to push your items.
Note: Contact the SKU IQ support team if you’d like us to do a Bulk Push of several pages of products at once. Bulk Pushing saves merchants time when migrating products since they don’t have to wait for one page of products to finish linking before they can start pushing the next page of products. Additional fees may apply depending on your subscription level.
6.After your products are pushed, you can view them by going to Products, and then filtering on In-Store & Online. A sync symbol displays when the items are linked.
When you first connect your POS and eCommerce platforms to SKU IQ, your In-Store and Online items will populate in the Products list. If there are products in your eCommerce that do not exist in your POS platform, you can push products from Shopify to Square so they will be available for sale in your retail store.
- Click Products, and then click on the Filter By pull down menu to select Online Only. A list of items that only exist in Shopify displays.
2.Select the checkboxes for the products you want to push. You can use the checkbox at the top of the column to Select All. You can select up to 50 products at a time to push. In the Actions pull down menu, click Push to POS.
Note: We recommend that you do a test product push prior to migrating all your products to ensure you are comfortable with the syncing capabilities and data that is migrated. Once items are pushed, those products will be available on your eCommerce platform and SKU IQ will sync your inventory quantities. You can test our system by pushing one or two products initially before pushing a whole page of products.
3.Click the Cool, do it! button to confirm.
4.Each product can take up to 5 minutes to link, and a whole page of 50 products typically takes approximately 1 hour to finish linking. New products you’ve pushed to Square may take up to 12 hours to display in the Square dashboard.
Note: During your free trial, you are limited to pushing a maximum of 50 products from one platform to the other. After you’ve signed up for a subscription, there is no limit.
5.After your first page of products is finished migrating, you can repeat the process for the remaining products that need to be pushed, going page by page to push your items.
Note: Contact the SKU IQ support team if you’d like us to do a Bulk Push of several pages of products at once. Bulk Pushing saves merchants time when migrating products since they don’t have to wait for one page of products to finish linking before they can start pushing the next page of products. Additional fees may apply depending on your subscription level.
6.After your products are pushed, you can view them by going to Products, and then filtering on In-Store & Online. A sync symbol displays when the items are linked.
